US lawmakers warn that Facebook, Instagram are ‘becoming breeding ground’ for crypto scams
A U.S. Senator has asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to detail the policies his company uses to address the growing number of cases of cryptocurrency fraud on Facebook and Instagram. Washington Post report September 9th.
The legislator called as recently report The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed a significant increase in cryptocurrency fraud across Meta-owned social media platforms.
The FTC is report In June, it was revealed that around 50% of people who lost money to cryptocurrency scams in 2021 and beyond claimed it happened on social media platforms. Meta’s Instagram facilitated 32% of reported scams, while Facebook and WhatsApp were cited 26% and 9% of the time respectively.
Senator Robert Menendez said Washington Post:
“Based on recent reports of fraud on other media platforms and apps, we are concerned that Meta provides a breeding ground for cryptocurrency fraud that seriously harms consumers.”
Lawmakers asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to provide a detailed report on how the company is compressing crypto fraud and the steps it takes to help victims of the scam. Zuckerberg plans to respond to requests by October 24, 2022.
Crypto scams on social media
Cryptocurrencies have become a popular means of payment for social media users. Unfortunately, malicious actors have defrauded unsuspecting users out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
according to FTC report, Over 95,000 users lost about $770 million to social media-powered crypto scams. Over 70% of his reported frauds were classified as either investment, romance or online shopping fraud.
2021 Survey by BBC revealed that nearly 10,500 victims lost more than $18 million to gift fraud in the first three months of 2021. Most gift scams are done by impersonating an influential person like Elon Musk.
victim reportedly I lost over $550,000 after sending 10 BTC to an Elon Musk giveaway scam in February 2021.
Observing the rising trend of cryptocurrency scams on social media platforms, FatManTerra recently pulled off a fake investment hoax that saw unsuspecting users wire him over $100,000.
FatManTerra used the incident to educate the community against looking for free cryptocurrency launches and refund those who were duped.
I gave a full refund to the person who sent the money.
There were no investments.
High yields without risk do not exist.
Free lunch does not exist.
Influencers are starting to scam on Twitter. Before any more scams occur, please know the following:
we work to beat you.
— Fat Man (@FatManTerra) September 5, 2022
